Victorian era: Religion

Victorian era: Religion

When Queen Victoria ascended the British throne in 1837, it marked the beginning of a promising new age The Victorian era. This era was known as a period in which astonishing innovations and changes were made. During this period the British society started to discuss issues such as democracy, feminism, unionization of workers and socialism, but it did not represent a great change in terms of religion. The Victorian Age was beyond doubt a religious age. It is believed that because it was many years under the impact of the excesses of the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror and the wars of Napoleon, the skepticism and rationalism of the enlightenment had given way to a renewal of Christian faith.

At those times the Bible was taken as the absolute  truth, and it was the foundation of moral behaviour. During this period, textbooks and games were based on religion and morality. It was believed that if religion was accepted by all, the morality would become the end to crime and poverty. As many Victorians believed that the Bible was the best, indeed in many cases the only guide to a moral life, it was frequently and widely read by people of every social class. What is more, there were lots of religious stories.  Chained bibles were to be found on railway stations, and sermons were regularly printed and sometimes they became best-sellers.

A great number of people used to go to the Church  at least once and probably twice, every Sunday. Churches were crowded, and although some people complained that industrialization and urbanization were alienating the masses from religion, there was scant evidence for that in church attendance figures. When the first national census revealed in 1851 that no fewer than 5 million people had not attended church the previous Sunday there was much shaking of heads among the pious, but of course this did not mean they failed to attend every Sunday, nor that they had ceased to believe in God. Church and chapel attendance did not fall between 1851 and 1881, and in absolute terms actually grew up to around 1906, though it fell relative to the population. Nevertheless, religion was to be found everywhere.

By mid-century, however, religious fervour of this kind had declined sharply, and the dangers to Christian faith seemed to have become more acute than ever when Charles Darwin  published The Origin of Species in 1859. It opened with the boldest possible statement that species had not been made in their final form by God.

To sum up, during the Victorian era the British and Irish society were having a really bad time, so as they needed to believe that everything was going to be better, they started to go the Church because it was probably there where they found a quiet place to spend their time.